So, What’s Up with Smart? We Speak to CEO Annette Winkler

Tamara Warren

Jan 20, 2015

Smart CEO Dr. Annette Winkler is leading the charge to make Smart the go-to car brand for American city dwellers. While we’re not sure that will ever happen in meaningful numbers, the push involves the all-new and improved Smart Fortwo, which arrives in U.S. dealerships late this summer and which will be followed by an electric version in 2016. We recently drove the new model and found its premise to still be dubious, but the car is undoubtedly improved in terms of its automatic transmission (now a dual-clutch unit), steering, comfort, and interior quality. We spoke with Dr. Winkler at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit about her vision for Daimler’s Smart brand.

Do you have a different approach to growing the brand in the U.S. versus the rest of the world?

We have the feeling the Smart brand is better understood in the U.S. and there are people who are more cautious for the environment. We get reactions from customers really amazed by the possibility to drive [a Smart car]. What we are elaborating on all over is to look for the right cities where the need for Smart is particularly high. In this U.S., it’s San Francisco, Portland, cities where the culture is very open-minded. We are focusing on sales and marketing and additional services for those cities. We have the same attitude in the U.S. as other markets.

Being a distinct brand but also falling under the umbrella of Mercedes-Benz, where do you see collaboration between the two moving forward?

In the Smart there is Mercedes technology, Mercedes know-how, and Mercedes engineering. It will be more than ever—in the safety standards, the comfort, the suspension. We are also highly linked to Mercedes dealerships, so there is a high quality standard of service and customer satisfaction. I think it’s a win-win for both brands.

What are some of the things you’re looking at for future trends?

Our intention is to link the car with the city. We are doing so especially with a new app, so that it’s affordable for all people. For a very low price, you can put your smartphone together in the Smart. In Europe it’s 100 euro per cradle. You have automatically with your smartphone, a perfect, intelligent infotainment system. You have first of all your own music, all your apps, and that’s normal, but now it goes on. You have a very nice navigation system. In the navigation system you can [enter] all the Smart parking spots where only a Smart fits. I can take a photo of [a parking spot] and the community can share it. We have contracts in some cities with car washes for instance, because a Smart uses less water. You can have a car wash at [half the price]. It’s kind of playful, but very intelligent. You can take [the phone] outside of the car and use it to find your car.

We are collecting a lot of ideas by our employees with an open-minded culture to bring in their eyes. Within in Daimler we have departments looking into what’s happening. Sometimes it’s also quite simple, because what does mobility mean? People want to go the fastest way, not the shortest into the city. They want to get rid of their car very fast. City to city there are totally different priorities. In Mexico, the drive-in cinemas are very popular. The first row in the cinemas (Smart customers) can come very late. In other cities, it’s a lack of parking spaces. That’s why we are looking very much on focusing on cities.

The bigger, more practical Smart Forfour, which won’t be sold in the U.S. Still, we drove it and you can read the review here.

What about Smart e-bikes? Do you see this part of the business growing?

It’s very different—[but] Portland would be a city to which I think we could bring it in the States. An e-bike isn’t an alternative to your regular bike—it’s an alternative to your car. My husband and I, when we want to go in the evening to a restaurant, we take e-bikes instead of a car.

Do you see more of these kinds of products?

At the very end, we are paid for making a profitable business. We did think about an e-board, but they are not allowed to be taken into pedestrian areas. But I think the big future is lot more concepts . . . where you can save time and have alternatives for mobility.

To make a big success out of the Fortwo market and developing those possibilities. The Electric Drive will play an important part here, and adding the services around the car. This makes us different from other car manufacturers, because we don’t want to think only in hardware. We are thinking in terms of services around the car, making life in big cities easier.